First Impressions / Yuruyuri

「ウチくる！？・・・いくいくっ！」 (Uchi Kuru!? …Iku Iku!)
“Wanna Come Over!? …Let’s Go, Let’s Go!”

I think Akari should just be content about kicking off the start of every episode, because her lack of presence is getting the best of her even when she’s narrating — outdone by Chinatsu, Sakurako, and Himawari merely taking their seats around her. To add insult to injury, leave it up to Kyouko to remind herself not to forget about her too.

By now, I don’t think it’s any secret that Kyouko is my favorite character, even though it surprises me to a certain degree since I rarely favor the most idiotic character in a slice-of-life series. There are some exceptions however, such as Matsuoka Miu in Ichigo Mashimaro due to her manzai-like chemistry with Itou Chika. In Yuruyuri, we have Yui to complete that combination and create a very similar character dynamic, plus Ayano to add a very different one. There’s very little doubt that Kyouko is the catalyst of this series, providing all the light lesbian humor when our human blood fountain Chitose isn’t around. Without her, we’d probably have another series about a group of relatively normal middle school girls that’s missing the subtle yet defining yuri aspect. From that perspective, it’s a lot easier to justify why Kyouko’s my favorite.

Compared to their seniors, Akari and Chinatsu are just cute subjects to be preyed upon, unlike their fellow first-year friends, squirrel and snake Himawari and Sakurako, who can probably star in their very own series. When they’re not the focus of a gag, they’re primarily an audience for the others’ goofy interactions, reacting to whatever messed-up thought that’s running through Kyouko’s head. They definitely have more of a support role in the comedy, but are just as crucial to the overall delivery as the silly girl who tends to spark it. For example, Chinatsu’s admiration of Yui is simply begging for a wild lesbian fantasy care of Chitose, who was sorely missed in this episode.

After the initial shock over Yui living alone, the visit to her apartment was only mildly amusing at best. It had some funny moments like when Kyouko got stomped on, plus several cuter ones to balance her idiocy out, but nothing to the level of a raging student council vice president and her fantasizing friend. Even without the same level of laughs, I didn’t really enjoy this episode any less than the previous one though. It’s always nice to see them change things up to the cuter side of the series, rather than constantly playing off the yuri bit until it’s completely overused. Doing so actually makes me look forward to seeing more of the student council’s involvement next time. Funny things seem to happen when the stupidity ratio is higher.

 

Preview

39 Comments

    1. I didn’t think about Miu until I read your blog. Lol Kana’s one of my all time favorite characters and Miu was pretty good too, but Kyouko is surprisingly mature and it really increases her charm.

      MC
      Reply

  8. I wasn’t sure about the 1st two episodes, but I enjoyed
    this which seemed to highlight the friendship between
    Yui and Kyouko.

    I especially noticed the OP sequence – the twist was
    that she rolled with the punches and just continued on
    with the monologue – funny!

    mac65
    Reply

  11. when kyoko was imagining about akarin’s hair, the 2nd one seems to be a shout-out to azumanga daioh.

    and yeah, I also love kyoko. she also is quite nice and observant under.
    I now ship kyokoXyui even if neither of them have really shown romantic interest in either.

    amado
    Reply

    1. well most of the romantic interests seem one-sided (Ayano -> Kyoko, Chinatsu -> Yui, Kyoko -> Chinatsu). Only the tsundere couple is fairly obvious. YuixKyoko is…pretty mature/calm, since they’ve known each other for so long. It’s subtle but they act like a married couple xD

      anon
      Reply

  13. Funny episode with less ecchi/lesbian references and more true honest comedy. The funny part was the animation quality, that was pretty awful in this episode, but did have some kind of charm attached to it.

    Andre
    Reply

  20. I usually stay far, far away from pointless yuri-ish SoL comedies. Technically, I should like Nichijou far better than this.
    Somehow I find myself chuckling at most of the character interactions. Pointless as they may be, I really like the verisimilitude, especially Akari’s situation. Don’t think I’ll drop it anytime soon.

    imouto
    Reply

  21. I must say, this episode is pretty hilarious. I think there was a bit of Azumanga Daioh influenced in this episode.

    The part with Akari’s chung-li hair turning into guided missiles or hair tentacles, reminded me of the episode in Azumanga Daioh where everyone wonders how Chiyo-chan’s hair stays on. Some of the students believe that the pigtails are wings or they’re attached on. xD

    Nimmy
    Reply

  22. this episode had me literally rofl-ing LOLOLOLOL. the tentacle rape was damn funny as well as the azumanga daioh reference!!! XDDDDDDDD they suddenly became laser beams! XDDD

    I seriously can’t wait for chinatsu’s ‘drawing’ to show up. XDDDD funniest thing in the manga. XDDD

    YUI x KYOKO FTW!!!! too much HNNNNGGGG-worthy scenes this episode. XDDD

    hammock
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *